


tell it to the sun

by thimble



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 01:49:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1710581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thimble/pseuds/thimble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had definitely been to better karaoke places, ones that aren’t a literal hole-in-the-wall with watered down sake on the menu, but he wasn’t complaining.</p><p>There were worse ways to spend a winter night, and he was sharing this one with his favorite senpai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tell it to the sun

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted from tumblr.

It’s too hot inside their booth; there’s no circulation and the air-conditioner was working poorly, unaided by how it’s currently occupied by (most of) an entire team of high school basketball players. The speakers are halfway to busted and the mic’s cord is too short, the song selection is at least five years old and the cushioning on the seats were nearly flattened. The alcohol they were served was most likely watered down, though Kise can’t be sure if that’s because the staff could tell they were minors but didn’t want to turn potential customers away, or if the service is just really shitty. He’s definitely been to better karaoke places.

But they’ve gotten even Kobori-senpai to sing, and he has an arm slung over Hayakawa-senpai as they continue to butcher some pop hit from so many summers ago, slurring the lyrics and giggling, as if they were taking cues from Kise himself. Moriyama-senpai boos at them when they miraculously land a high score; he seems pleased even though they’ve failed to meet any girls (so far.)

_It was Moriyama-senpai who said it, out of the blue, “we should go for karaoke.”_

_Everyone in the locker room exchanged incredulous looks; some of them gave half-hearted laughs and told him to be serious, while others — mostly Kasamatsu-senpai — feigned anger._

_"My shoe will never dislodge from your ass, mark my words," he added, though the usual threat lacked its gravity, instead made heavy by their recent defeat. No one else felt its crushing blow as hard as Kasamatsu-senpai did, faithfully taking on his duties as captain even if this loss meant he no longer had to._

_"So what? You wanna go home and mope?" Moriyama-senpai said, kinder than his question would’ve implied. He clapped Kasamatsu-senpai on the back. "We’re still the elite team Kaijo. Tons of pretty girls are waiting to console us all over Tokyo."_

_Kamatsu-senpai snorted, as if dismissing the idea altogether but he shocked all of them with his gruff non-reply. “What do you think, Kise?”_

_Kise was not unused to attention, but he was to this kind; they were not admiring, nor envying, but inquiring, as if his answer was important. They wanted to know what he thought, and not enough people had ever asked that of him._

_His eyes were still smarting from his earlier tears, but he was literally paid to smile for a living; that’s what he did, and was surprised to find that it was genuine. “Karaoke is my specialty, I’m warning all of you!”_

_"Don’t brag, you brat." Kasamatsu-senpai raised a hand and aimed for his head, and Kise laughed and laughed and laughed._

Ah, Kasamatsu-senpai.

Kise glances to his right where Kasamatu-senpai is sitting, his skin blotchy and red from an apparent and previously well-hidden alcohol allergy. He seems the most inebriated and not because he had more drinks than any of them, and the idea of Kasamatsu-senpai having such low tolerance makes Kise grin. It’s really cute.

It doesn’t go unnoticed by Kasamatsu-senpai, who snaps, “what are you smiling at?”

"Nothing, senpai!" Kise winks, and is delighted to see that it makes Kasamatsu-senpai flush a deeper scarlet. "Do you wanna have a duet again? We sounded really good together!"

"Shut up," Kasamatsu-senpai says, recognizing a tease when he hears one. Kise managed to rope him into singing sometime during the evening and the result was disastrous, to say the least. Kasamatsu-senpai made Hayakawa-senpai delete the recording and made the rest of them swear, on pain of death, to never let the word out about his tone-deafness. "It’s your fault I won’t have a voice tomorrow."

"My pleasure," Kise says, though his own throat is showing signs of strain too. Kasamatsu-senpai pretends to throw a drink at him, but his eyes are starting to crinkle at the corners, like they always do when he’s fighting a smile.

(He had definitely been to better karaoke places, ones that aren’t a literal hole-in-the-wall with watered down sake on the menu, but he wasn’t complaining.

There were worse ways to spend a winter night, and he was sharing this one with his favorite senpai.)

It’s enough. It’s always been, and so the hours pass until they have to leave or risk getting thrown out of such a respectable establishment. They greet the darkness again, less like a team that was weighed down by a lack of victory, and more like one that’s realizing that it isn’t the end of the world. Maybe it was the sake.

They’re all a bit wobbly but they make it to the train station all right — all except for Kasamatsu-senpai, who seems one step from falling face-first to the ground. Kise offers to stay behind with him until he sobers up enough to make it home by himself. They wave to everyone else on the platform, or Kise does, while Kasamatsu-senpai elbows him and tells him to follow them, he’s not That Drunk, really, he’ll be okay.

"I don’t think so, senpai. Come on," Kise says, dragging him by the arm to the nearest convenience store. "I have something that might work."

It’s a leftover habit from Teiko that never failed to make him feel better. (It would make him nostalgic if he were with anyone but Kasamatsu-senpai.) They exit the shop with a popsicle each, which Kasamatsu-senpai only stares at. “How is this supposed to help?”

"It won’t have a chance to unless you try it, senpai!" Kise seats them at an empty bench when Kasamatsu-senpai starts  _swaying_. “First, you have to lick it…”

Kasamatsu-senpai tries to swat at him for that, and succeeds only at dropping his popsicle with his poor grip of the stick. He stares at it some more, unceremoniously. “Oh.”

Kise almost laughs, despite being in prime hitting distance, but he doesn’t get to; not when Kasamatsu-senpai tips over to the side and his cheek lands right on Kise’s shoulder. Kise liked to lord their slight height difference over him sometimes, but not now, not when it means their bodies fit perfectly like this, not when it steals the air out of his lungs and doesn’t return it.

"Kise," Kasamatsu-senpai begins, lashes on his cheek, voice thick with sincerity. "Today, you… even if we lost, I want you to know…"

His popsicle bleeds all over his fingers, but Kise barely registers the cold. He still hasn’t exhaled.

"I never told you enough, and I should… and you should know… that I’m proud of you. You were… great, you were great today, and I know you’ll take Kaijo far even if I’m not there…"

And Kise has to breathe, and blink, several times in a row, because he might cry if he didn’t, from Kasamatsu-senpai’s words, from the mention of the future they’ll have to face when tonight ends, from how harshly it squeezes the heart inside his chest until it might burst if he didn’t say

"I’m gonna miss you, senpai." It’s whispered to the top of Kasamatsu-senpai’s head, into his hair, the second popsicle joining Kasamatsu-senpai’s on the cement. "I really like you too."

He spends what seems like a few minutes in limbo, bottom lip torn up by his teeth, cheeks afflicted with pink, while it sinks in for Kasamatsu-senpai. When it finally does, he’s able to tell by the weak kick Kasamatsu-senpai delivers to his shin.

"Don’t say such embarrassing things, you — you pretty—"

"Pretty boy?" Kise chokes on his laughter, because at least the weight’s been lifted. There are worse ways to have a confession rejected. "Gee, thanks."

"No, no," Kasamatsu-senpai says, like he’s frustrated at himself for not making it come out right. He looks up and when their gazes meet Kise’s horrified to see the naked  _hope_  on his face reflected in Kasamatsu-senpai’s eyes.

The feeling doesn’t last, because Kasamatsu-senpai adds, “just pretty.” He’s flushing again, and this time he doesn’t have the alcohol to blame.

"Oh," Kise says, as the hope turns into happiness; soda-flavored, reminiscent of victory. " _Oh._ ”


End file.
